Automatic crossing-alarm.



No. 733,698. PATENTED JULY 14, 1903. J. P. GHURGE.

AUTOMATIC CEEOSSIIFQ ALARM. APPLICATION FILED we. 183.1902.

N0 MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

L g l N lml hi L witnesses. I I72 ve n 20 7" 7 C'7zurc7z 6y OLVL 7 7zzs attorzzey.

7N5 norms vans an. wm'uuwu. WASPINGTON, n, c.

No. 733,698. v PATENTBD JULY 14, 1903.

J. P. CHURCH.

AUTOMATIC CROSSING ALARM. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 18, 1902.

110 MODEL. 3 8HEBTSSHEET 2.

N M III I L .X- wzfizefisea f7? z/e2z+or J P. ckurck w a fiz's afforney TN: ucflms PETERS co. wow-mum. msumomu. n, c

No. 733,698. PATENTED JULY 14, 1903.

J; P. cannon.

AUTOMATIC cnossme ALARM.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 18, 1902.

H0 MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

'70 Relay v J I Q N Zflzfizeeaes. gg

4 urc zz s after/a3.

iINiTED- STATES Patented July 14, 1 903.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH P. CHURCH, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC CROSSING-ALARM.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 733,698 dated July 14, 1903.

Application filed August 18,1902. Serial No. 120,148. (No model.)

I0 00% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH P. CHURCH, of the city of Decatur, county of Macon, and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Automatic Crossing -Alarm, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide improved means for ringing a bell at a highway-crossing or other designated point while a train or car is approaching and to hold the bell from ringing while the train is receding.

The invention is exemplified in the structure hereinafter described, and it is defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure l is a diagram of a track and alarm apparatus, showing the conditions that exist as a train is approaching the bell within alarm distance. Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating the change that occurs in the apparatus when the front end of the train reaches the crossing or other designated point. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing how the bell is held from ringing as the train recedes. Fig. 4 is a plan of a contact-plate which contacts with a wheel of a car to cut out the bell. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the contact-plate and the adjuncts thereof.

A battery is shown at 1, the gong of avibrating electric bell is shown at 2, a coil of the magnet of the electric bell is shown at 3, and the armature for magnet 3 is shown at 4. Aspring contact-point for armature is shown at 5, and at 6 is shown a post with which the spring on the armature contacts or tends to contact. A coil of an electromagnet-relay is shown. at 7, and the armature of the relay is shown at 8. The armature 8 is pivoted at one end, and its opposite end 9 is adapted to swing against contact-spring 5 when the relay is closed and force the spring from contact with post 6.

One rail of arailway-track is shown at 11, and the other rail is shown at 12. The rail 11 has an insulated section which determines the distance from the crossing the alarm may be sounded. The insulated section of railway-track is quite long in actual practice; but the limits of the paper require it to be shortened in the drawings, and the points of insulation are shown at X. A pair of wheels and an axle are shown at 13.

The wiring of the alarm is shown partly in solid lines and partly in dotted lines, the solid lines being used to show the live wires and indicate the circuits made at different times.

All the wires are dead until a truck of a car or engine strikes the insulated section of rail 11 and makes an electrical connection between the two rails. When this is done, a circuit is established leading from the battery to the bell-magnet, thence to post 6, thence through the armature of the bell-magnet by way of spring 5, thence to rail 11, thence through axle 13 to rail 12, and thence .to the battery, as shown in Fig. 1. When a truck of an engine or car strikes contact-plate 10, a short circuit is temporarily established through the relay, as shown in solid lines in Fig. 2, the armature 8 is drawn to the magnet of the relay, the end 9 presses spring 5 from cont-act with post 6, and as the wheel of the truck moves away from contact-plate 10 a circuit is established through the relay by way of spring 5 and armature 4 and the bell-magnet is held cut out until the train passes off the insulated section of rail 11. The section of rail 11 that has been termed insulated is not necessarily insulated from the track; but it is insulated at its end from the adjoining part of the rail, and the sections of the rail of which it is composed are preferably conjoined electrically by bond-wires.

The operation is the same no matter from which direction the trainapproaches. The bell rings until the contact-plate 10 is struck by a car-wheel, and after that the relay prevents the bell froin ringing until the circuit is broken by the train passing ofi the insulated section of rail 11. As soon as the train moves off the insulated section of rail the armature 8 falls to its original position preparatory to a repetition of the operation.

The contact-plate used to cutout the bell is preferably constructed as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, where 14 represents a block of wood secured to a side of the insulated rail. 15 represents a metal plate attached to the upper surface of the block 1 1, and 16 represents a lug on plate 15, with which the wire from the relay-battery connects. The plate 10 is arched at its center to project above the top line of rail 11. Its ends rest on plate 15, and bolts 18 extend through slots 10 in the ends of plate 10. A strip 17 of fiber or other insulating material is placed on block 14 below plate 15, and it is bent up to insulate the plates from the rail.

The plate is in the path of the outer edges of the car-wheels, and the arched part is depressed as the Wheels pass over. The connections of plate 10 with plate 15 permit motion of the ends of plate 10 lengthwise of plate 15, with the result that the contacts are kept bright. The plate 10 is flattened out as it is depressed, and the springplat-e moves lengthwise to soften the shocks given by the wheels.

The ends of plate 15 are preferably bent up over the ends of plate 10 to hold the plate 10 from tilting sidewise and to insure better electrical contact, and bolts 19 secure plate 15 to block 14.

The contact-plate is used as a matter of preference; butitisobviousthataninsulated section of track may take the place of the contact-plate.

I claim 1. In an automatic alarm for railways, the combination of a railwaytrack, an insulated section in the track, an electric vihrating bell including an electromagnet the armature whereof has a spring contact-point; a relayelectromagnet, the armature of which forces the spring-point of the bell-armature out of circuit with the bell-magnet by mechanical pressure as the relay closes; a battery with suitable connecting-wires leading from one terminal of the battery to a rail of the track and from the other battery-terminal through the coils and contact-points of the bell-magnets to the opposite rail of the track; a suitable insulated contact for car-Wheels with a shunt-circuit leading from the contact to the relay-armature and through the coils of the relay-magnet to the battery.

2. In an automatic alarm for railways, the combination of a railway-track, an insulated section in the track, an electric vibrating bell including an electromagnet the armature whereof has a spring contact-point; a relayelectroinagnet, the armature of which forces the spring-point of the bell-armature out of circuit with the bell-magnet by mechanical pressure as the relay closes; a suitable battery with connecting-wires leading from one terminal of the battery to a rail of the track and from the other battery-terminal through the coils and contact-points of the bell-magnet to the opposite rail of the track; a suitable insulated contact for car-wheels with a shunt-circuit leading from the contact to the relay-armature and through the coils of the relay-magnet to the battery, and an auxiliary circuit from one rail of the track to the opposite rail through the spring contact-point of the bell, the relay-armature and coils and the battery.

In testimony whereof I sign my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH P. CHURCH.

Witnesses:

Roy 0. KINSMAN,

WM. BURNETT. 

